The Witchy Ways of a Time Woman
by gallifreygirl1194
Summary: One of The Doctor's little-known daughters, Taron Cronos, is a witch in attendance at Hogwarts. But Taron has something up her sleeve-She has fallen in love with a wizard, and wishes to reveal the other half of her life-of a Time Lady-to him.
1. Introduction

No one needed to know who she really was-to the world, she was just an over-imaginative girl with fantasies of magic and time travel.

But what the world didn't know was that these fantasies were reality for her-her boarding school she attended during term was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as a top student, and during the summer, she travelled across the universe and back in her TARDIS-a machine now a rare valuable to time itself.

Taron-she called herself-Taron Cronos, Time Lady. Of course, she was not all that Time Lady. Her father, one of the last of the the Time Lords, ensured that his offspring would be the most brilliant beings to walk the Earth by breeding with the most spectacular species possible. Taron's mother happened to be a witch who had never fallen in love at Hogwarts, and who had solemnly sworn to hold out for a hero, or in Taron's father's case, a mad man with a travelling blue box.


	2. Chapter 1: Reuniting Father and Daughter

Staring out of her summer, non-TARDIS home, Taron had been reminded of her father as she heard the "vworp, vworp" that was only recognizable as her father's TARDIS to those who had heard it before. To most species in the universe, it was the sound of a million debts that were coming back to be paid for.

Jauntily, Taron's father stepped out of his TARDIS, closed the door, patted it, and rushed forward to give Taron, who was now running toward him, a welcoming hug.

"Ello, Dad!" Taron shouted, throwing her arms around him. As his daughter, Taron never got to call her dad what he called himself, The Doctor, but she did get to be honest that no matter what regeneration he was in, he always had excellent hair. Particularly, in this one, it was spiked up and complimented his suit, tie, converse, and trench coat perfectly. "Still looking good, as usual," she said, grinning and laughing.

"Well," The Doctor shrugged, "not as good as my daughter, who sill looks better." He ruffled Taron's short cropped ginger hair. "Why is it that you got the ginger hair after your first regeneration? It's not fair, Taron. Are you getting ready for school yet?"

Taron laughed. Not only was her dad into his tenth regeneration cycle, but he had been wanting to be ginger for his entire life. All 900 years of it. She also laughed because it was mid-June, and Hogwarts started session in September. "Despite how much I love that school, dad, no. I'm trying to decide on a good vacationing spot for a bit of the summer so I can relax." She put her arm in his and they walked from her building to a cafe just down the street.

The Doctor grinned back. "I know here are plenty of good places on Earth, if you're trying to stay close to home. But, there are some planets... you know, if you feel like being a little bit more adventurous than last year."

By now, father and daughter were sitting in the cafe across from each other; Taron sipping tea and The Doctor swallowing from an over-sized cappuccino cup. "See, dad, that's actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about." He glanced across to her over the rim of his coffee cup.

"This bloke, he's a great bloke, that I met at Hogwarts, well, he's a great wizard, and trustworthy, and I wanted to, well... take him on _Graceling_." Taron muttered in one great breath.

The Doctor almost did a spit-take; _Graceling_ was the name of Taron's TARDIS. "Now, Taron, I know that, being in the magic world of wizardry and such, things are quite a bit more believable, but if you show a _wizard_ the kind of technology from _Gallifrey_... Well, what will his reaction be? Aren't they still stuck with cauldrons and owls and cloaks and wands? Taron, we have sonic screwdrivers, and TARDISes, and..."

"Dad," Taron grabbed his hand to shut him up, and looked into his ancient eyes, "what did you do for mum?"

The ancient, wise eyes of the Doctor became soft, and reminiscent, as he remembered his lover's face, her eyes, her personality, all the things that, though she regenerated once already, Taron had perfectly.

Taron asked him again. "You weren't even a wizard. You didn't even meet her at Hogwarts. What did you do for _her_? Lie to her? I know that was not the case."

"I loved your mother very much, Taron," The Doctor began, "you know that. But when I met her, I didn't tell her what I was for a while, I didn't even introduce her to my TARDIS. She thought I was an average man, until I finally had to show her what I was, who I was..."

"...And she fell in love with you in a heartbeat." Taron finished his sentence. "Didn't she?"

Blushing, the Doctor nodded. "I loved her very much. That's why we had you. But of course..."

"She died, didn't she? I am over fifty Earth years old now, right? It would only make sense..." Taron finished his sentence again. It was always exceedingly humbling to have to mention how old she was on Earth, although she was like a teenager to any Time Lords or Ladies still out there.

"Yes, she passed not too long ago." The Doctor looked quite humbled himself as he mentioned that. "But you're still alive, and that's what matters. Is that one kid, that famous kid... does he still go to Hogwarts?"

"You mean Harry Potter? No. He went to Hogwarts forever ago. His kids though, they still go there. There's James, and Lilly, and Albus. Of course, they're all so much younger than I am... But his friend, Ron Weasley, his son, Hugo, he's there too..."

"That Hugo," The Doctor responded, "he's the one you're in love with?"

Taron blushed. "Is it that obvious? Of course, we couldn't be a good match. I'm ginger, short-cropped, and he's ginger, short cropped, but I guess that could change quite easily."

Paying the bill, The Doctor looked slightly confused. "That easily? Doesn't it take you quite a while to grow out your hair?" He got up and started to walk out of the cafe, Taron following closely behind. Once they reached Taron's building, she paused and walked over to a sleek-looking Mercedes Benz and crawled into the driver's seat, suddenly disappearing as if being swallowed. Grinning, The Doctor followed.

The grand interior of the small-looking sports car would have thrown anyone but Taron and her father off. It was a sleek, beautifully shaped type of a multiple-sided polygon, with classy Greek pillars supporting the massive interior, a lovely hue of sea green, sky blue, and lime green, around a beautiful, almost glassy looking console.

The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair. "It has indeed been a while since I've been inside little _Graceling_ here, hasn't it?"

Taron had to laugh. "I guess it has. I've updated the walls-I was getting a bit sick of lavender, so I went with more earthy colors. The brown along the trim gives it more of a natural look, don't you think?" The Doctor nodded.

"She's certainly got more of a posh side to her than my girl's got, I can tell you that. Her Chameleon Circuit still working?" He asked. The Chameleon Circuit (the part of a TARDIS that allows it to change shape) of his had malfunctioned in 1963, and it had been stuck like a big blue Police Call Box ever since.

"Yeah, it is, but I still haven't decided what to give her. I like the Benz, but I don't think it's me. I would make it a telephone booth, but it's much too common, unless I can lock it and paint it green. It seems to be a trend for me lately-green. Such a great color!"  
>"Yes, yes. Green. A spectacular color. But you mentioned how easy it was for your hair."<p>

"Oh, yeah. Watch this!" Taron grinned as she pulled out her wand, a simple, 10-inch mahogany with a single strand of unicorn tail hair as the center, and spun it around her head. Just like magic, it looked like her hair was coming out of her skull, but more followed behind it, and as it lengthened, it became a beautiful, wavy, coppery brown. Just like her mother's.

The Doctor sighed. "Oh, you look so much like your mother. Her hair..."

"It looked exactly like this, didn't it?" Taron asked. "I like it better like this. Not very many of my friends last year were quite fond of the short ginger look. Now that I'm a sixth year, it means Hugo's a fifth year. It is, oh what year is it?" She ran over to the console of _Graceling _and punched a few buttons. "Ah. 2022. That makes sense. It feels like it's a bit later than that, eh?"

"You're starting to sound like me," The Doctor laughed. "I forgot how much like me you look in the eyes. Your glasses tend to do that when they're shaped like mine.

Taron danced over to a mirror on one of the walls of _Graceling_ and adjusted her square, slim tortoiseshell glasses that arched just slightly over her nose. "I like this hairstyle with these glasses. It works much better." She spun around and marched to the console, spread her hands out, and looked directly at her dad.

"I just had the most brilliant idea. I have a new idea for _Graceling's_ Chameleon Circuit."

"Oh?" The Doctor gazed back, proud of his daughter.

"Yes!" Taron slammed down a lever and quickly punched in a few letters while she smiled wildly. "Observe!" and she dashed out of the door they came in, her dad following close behind. Without attracting any attention from the busy Londoners around them, _Graceling_ went from her sleek, black Mercedes Benz form to a classy, green vintage 1960s Volkswagon Beetle.

The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Brilliant! Oh, I knew you were a good seed from the moment your mother gave birth to you. I know now that I am most certainly not disappointed."


	3. Chapter 2: A Journey to Decide and Begin

Not long after, Taron and the Doctor were both in Taron's sitting room, sipping tea that had been poured from a magicked floating teapot that had been brewing for the two Time Lords all day.

"I still don't understand," The Doctor started, "how magic is possible. There has to be some sort of technology behind it, some sort of mechanics."

"Dad," Taron shook her head, "it's like what you say to each of your companions when you meet them and they're all like," she put on a fake face of shock, "it's b-b-bigger, on the-" She shook off the look. "You get what I mean? You just have to go with it, you can't question it." The teapot flew over to the sink, poured out, and started to wash itself next to a frying pan that had been used to make some eggs earlier that day. "I really shouldn't be using magic now, but with our Gallifreyan technology, the Trace seems to be a little on the wibbly-wobbly side." She winked at her dad.

"So that's one of the advantages of having the Time Lord technology from Gallifrey, eh?" The Doctor asked. "Oh!" He clapped his hands together again. "Do you want me to show you where I thought you could go vacationing?"

"Absolutely!" Taron exclaimed, and they both ran out of Taron's flat and out to the Police Call Box sitting subtly in an alley way next to her building. She sighed as she walked in to the TARDIS, which was all it had ever been called by her dad; he didn't think that a name would suit her for the great machine she was. "It's like coming home, dad."

The Doctor grinned. "Yes, I know. But now it's even more like home because I have my rebellious little girl next to me, with her TARDIS license in hand and ready to help me fly." As he began to run around pulling levers and pressing buttons, he asked the classic father question: "So, when do I get to meet this Hugo person? Any time soon?"

"Well, since you're so interested," Taron began, but she was interrupted as the TARDIS jolted and she was sent flying across the control room. She screamed, and the Doctor began running with a more intense purpose around the console, trying to get a grasp on what had just happened.

"Ohhh..." The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "This couldn't be good. No.. no no no..."

"What, dad? What is it?" Taron asked, looking at the scanners and trying to read them. "Your TARDIS doesn't have as good of readings as _Graceling _does... she's so outdated."

"Oy! Watch it, young one!" The Doctor said teasingly, but then returned to seriousness. "We're at a pivotal point in history-mostly for the world, but also for the most powerful country on the Earth itself."

"So it's a point in British history?" Taron asked, and they both laughed.

"Absolutely!" The Doctor was grinning, but Taron could tell that he wasn't grinning on the outside.

"Dad, where and when are we?

"Berlin, Germany. Normally a great place, yes, but not now, not when we're in 1943, at the height of the Nazi movement in the Second World War."

"So, are we here to visit Hitler?" Taron asked, astonished that he would take her here as an idea of a good date for a first-time TARDIS flier.

"Well, not quite, but..." he faded out as he stepped out of his TARDIS, parked in a quiet alleyway where no one would find it in the hustle and bustle. Taron hurried out after him, but stood in shock. The sky was lit by the sun, as it was daytime, but ash ruled the air. There was a depressing hint to the air as she and the Doctor sat for just a moment, taking it in. Before they could utter a single word, though, a group of soldiers marched past them, their marching lifting their legs much higher than needed, with a red arm band on each of their arms.

"Right then," the Doctor said, knowing that his daughter knew enough about the current circumstances of the war at hand in 1943, "let's go."

Shocked by the simple feel of death and destruction and sadness in the air, Taron was fighting back tears. She looked straight at her dad and nodded, pulling herself back toward the large blue sanctuary of hope.

As they made it inside, she smacked him on the arm. "Try not to take your daughter somewhere that has the Grim Reaper smiling down on the place, o'right? Just promise me that much, that if we happen to accidentally land somewhere, you tell me so and we leave. Immediately."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor simply responded, looking into Taron's eyes, the only thing that almost made him weep with reminiscence of his lost love. "I'm so sorry. I would never-" but he was cut off by the TARDIS, who lurched enough for them to panic and grab on to something. Any good Time Lord could have told that she had just taken off by herself, spiraling at light speed through the vortex, more toward the present than the past.

She came to a screeching halt.

"Ah!" The Doctor shouted. "This is _perfect_!"

Taron solely raised one questioning eyebrow.

"It's a planet that is long lost forgotten, but it's inhabitants, despite the fact that they don't look human, live in something of a renaissance-age style."

"The inhabitants aren't exactly humanoid, then, I presume?" Taron asked, just to check.

"Indeed they are not!" He swung the TARDIS doors open and stepped out, breathing the air of a fresh, new planet. "They look more like reptiles, but not like the _Homo reptilius_ that I've heard lived on Earth many billions," he spat out the _b_ in "billions," "of years ago."

"Oh!" Taron said, taking in air as she witnessed the creatures. The heads were that of lizards, quite literally, with elegantly slit black pupils in the midst of large, yellow eyes on either side of their quite large lizard-y heads. They stood upright, like humans, with bodies and hands like any human or Time Lord, but all green and covered from head to toe with scales. Their nails were long and black, like the claws of a lizard, and they all had thick-based, meter-long tails that swung comically from side to side with each step they took. But despite the scaly put-off, they dressed wonderfully.

The males, or at least Taron assumed they were males by what they were wearing, wore an arrangement that varied from medieval armor to classy cloaks like those that Taron herself wore at Hogwarts, with the dress robes of royalty in the Renaissance underneath. The females, they dressed elegantly as well. All of their dresses were like those of dreams, some of them with beautiful flowing cloaks surrounding a simple, renaissance dress with an elegant corset at the top, or others wearing dresses with large, puffed out bottoms, obviously nobility.

"Dad, this is-"

"Isn't it, though?" The Doctor responded as he was already looking at the shops along the small street they had strolled on to. "You think that your wizard-y boy would like this, eh?"

"Would he ever! He loves to study the history of magic. Despite all of the laws against magic, even in the Renaissance, some of the most famous witches and wizards lived during that time. We've always been good at hiding secrets. Seeing that we're not the only ones who know how to show development would be the stuff of dreams for him, dad!" Taron was up to her chin in excitement. Not only did she know that Hugo would love this, but on an entirely different world? It would be the date of legends! Aside from the fact that he couldn't tell anyone, but it wouldn't make a difference.

"We should go, Taron. Time isn't running out, but I have to be somewhere. You know."

"Right..." Taron stretched out that word for sarcasm. She knew her dad just wanted her to write to Hugo to start planning. "I already have a plan. You're going to have to come back to London in a couple of weeks to meet him before I take him along in _Graceling_. I've already got the coordinates for her though." As they walked into the TARDIS doors, she reached into her sack that had been around her shoulder from the time she left her flat, and pulled out a small device that looked something like a sleek, black power tool. "My trusty screwdriver should do the trick." She pointed her device at the console of the TARDIS and pressed a button, in which a small blue light shone at the end and was accompanied by a high whistling and buzzing sound.

"Best present I've ever given you." The Doctor chuckled.

"Yeah, that and _Graceling_. But hey, who doesn't love getting a stolen, or rather," she coughed, "_borrowed_ gift from her own father?"

At that, the Doctor swung a lever down on his console and the TARDIS took off back towards London.

"Don't forget, dad, that you've got to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron, in London, at 15:00 two weeks from today. Make sure that your TARDIS has got those coordinates down. You're important for me to convince him that this is real." And with a kiss on the cheek, she left the TARDIS and watched him climb back into his magical machine, disappearing with yet another familiar "vworp, vworp, vworp..."

As she arrived back at her flat, and bid her father a good farewell, the first thing Taron did was pull out parchment, her wax and her seal (an hour glass with gears surrounding it), an envelope, and her quill that she only used at Hogwarts and to write letters to her friends in the magic world.

_Dear Hugo-_ she began, using her best penmanship, _I want to see you again! School has just gotten out, but I'm craving some time well-spent at Diagon Alley. I'm going to be in the London area in two weeks time, and wanted to know if you wanted to meet me at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour so we can have some fun and food at the same time. Please, meet me through the Floo network in two weeks so we can catch up-it has been far too long! -With love, Taron Cronos._ She let her quill fly along the page as she signed her name. Under it, she scribbled, "Time Lady," but it was ever so small, and ever too messy of handwriting for anyone to read but her and her dad. She would have written it in the script of Gallifrey, but the language was dead now to anyone and everyone but her father, and he refused to teach it to her.

She sealed it in the envelope, letting a small drip of her silvery-green wax fall onto the flap before stamping her seal in there and keeping it until it dried. Opening the cage of her owl, Jesper, she whispered, "You know where to go, old girl. Bring it quick, bring it fast. I'll give you a nice, plump mouse afterwards."

Jesper made an expression of almost rolling his eyes as the great ivory barn owl took off, letter held gingerly in his beak, and soared over the now starry sky.

Taron laid down on her bed, sighing. It had been a day well spent, and now she was to wait for her wizard love's response. She wanted to tell him her secret: she wanted to tell him she was a Lady of Time.


	4. Chapter 3: Letters To and Fro

Hugo Weasley sat in his family's relatively well-sized house in the British muggle countryside, looking out his window. He really had enjoyed his fourth year at Hogwarts, and he wish he had someone to talk to other than his sister, Rose. Of course, he was loved at school, because his dad was famous. Ron and Hermione, who was his mum, were both best friends with Harry Potter, the boy who lived. At that, they all helped stop the dark lord Voldemort from rising back to power by defeating horcruxes, and over-using polyjuice potion to no end. Hugo's personal favorite part of that story, when he had to ask, was when his mum described how it felt to be Bellatrix Le'Strange, a dark witch with quite the taste in hairstyles and clothing. Ron couldn't help but mention to his son how turned on he was when she wore that dress, but he never did admit it when it was actually happening.

Grinning and thinking about Hogwarts, Hugo grabbed his wand and admired it. He wished he had permission to use his wand for spells, but he guessed that he could find his quill and parchment to write letters to friends instead of other, _easier_ methods of communication.

He waltzed over to his still-packed trunk from Hogwarts-the red and gold now finally fading after four years of it being tossed on and off the Hogwarts Express-and noticed the old, graying ginger cat, with the face that looked as though it had smashed into a wall, meander into his room.

"Hello there, Crookshanks." He laughed, and pet the grumpy old cat. A muffled _mrow_ was all he got in return as she turned her tail and walked out. Shrugging it off, he kept digging through his trunk.

"Hugo! Oh, Hugo!" Rose, his older sister who was going to be attending her seventh year at Hogwarts next term, ran into his room, her hair frizzled.

"What's up, Rose?" He asked. He looked into her worried eyes and realized she had lost her pet rabbit. Again.

"Have you seen Gypsy? She's hopped off again! I don't know where she went!"

"Have you checked the top hats around the house? I'm sure she's hiding in one of those. Ta-da," and Hugo mimicked a muggle "magician" pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

"Ha, ha," Rose rolled her eyes. "You're so childish, Hugo. Merlin's beard, I'm so glad this'll be my last year! I want to go study abroad."

"Here's an idea, sis," Hugo said, recalling she just recently turned seventeen, "Accio..."

"Ah! You're right!" Rose pulled out her beautiful rosewood wand and flicked it. "Accio Rabbit!" Suddenly, the fluffy white hare zoomed in midair through the doorway of Hugo's room and into Rose's hands. "Thanks, little brother." She ruffled Hugo's hair, and left, just as Hugo finally found is quill and parchment.

He wandered over to his desk, and looked over at his great horned owl Fawkes-named after the great phoenix that belonged to Albus Dumbledore himself-who just let out an angry hoot as he glared at Hugo.

"I know, I know, Fawkes. Just wait until night and I'll ask mum and dad tonight if you can go. Then I'll let you soar for as long as you want. O'right, old boy?"

Fawkes simply responded with another hoot, but this time less angry and more so frustrated.

Just as Hugo dipped his quill into ink, his window was magicked open, a normal reflex since his mum had charmed it to open when an owl was coming. A familiar barn owl soared in and dropped an envelope with a silvery green wax seal on it onto Hugo's desk, and soared over to land on Fawkes' cage. The two owls exchanged friendly hoots and then the barn owl pulled her wing out over her eyes and fell asleep.

"Oh hey, it's strange how this works. Jesper, you are indeed a reliable old girl, aren't you?" Hugo gave the barn owl a pat on the head and walked over to a trolley of supplies he had next to Fawkes' cage. Jesper took her wing off of her face to see him pull out a bag of some treats he had gotten at Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley, which he then proceeded to spoil the new guest with.

As he read the letter, he became exceedingly excited, and immediately began to etch back a letter with his old quill.

_Dear Taron-_ he chewed on the tip of the feather, now missing a few pieces of it along the top from this habit, _Thank you for the letter! Before I begin, just know that Jesper was very tired when she arrived with your letter so I will send her back soon. Keep care of Fawkes for the time being (he's a good boy if you let him stretch his wings enough. If he's too large for your flat, let me know and send him back). My mum and dad are pretty busy, but my sister is very keen on using her magic now that she is of age and out from the Trace, so I could always come to Diagon Alley with her, if it's not too much of a matter. I've been missing Hogwarts too, and I want to get some of the wizarding world air back into my lungs too, plus I miss wearing my robes. Luckily enough, my fireplace is perfect for the Floo network, so I should be good in that area. I cannot guarantee, however, that I will be much shopping fun. Despite the pretty high status of my parents and their work at the Ministry, I'm pretty limited on the Galleons I'm allowed to have._

Hugo paused, and read it allowed to the sleeping owls. "That sounds like it's enough... doesn't it?" Both of the owls only showed one eye, and it seemed like both were showing something that said, "you're kidding, right?"

_I look forward to seeing you again. Make sure to write me back in the meantime! Your Friend, Hugo Weasley_. He didn't have as beautiful or elegant of handwriting as Taron, but compared to her elaborate signature, his printed name stuck out like his hair did in the feasting hall at Hogwarts. But he didn't let it bug him.

Placing the letter in an envelope, Hugo simply licked the adhesive on the muggle seal and, grimacing at the taste, opened Fawkes' cage, gave him the letter, and let the great owl soar. "Come back soon, buddy!" He hollered, but Fawkes sped up, eager to stretch his wings.

"Merlin's Beard, Jesper!" He exclaimed as the barn owl to walk into Fawkes' cage and defiantly came back out to perch on the top. "She signed it 'with love'!"

He had been keeping a secret in from everyone besides Lilly Potter, a girl that he was so close to that it was assumed that they were in love. But no. They were cousins, _and_ their parents were best friends, so they saw each other frequently. What he had been keeping was that he was in love with Taron Cronos, the mysterious Ravenclaw girl that had mastered every single spell so far and was the top student of the now fifth years. "She signed it with _love_!"

Hugo wasn't too sure, but he thought that maybe he was overdoing it. Maybe she just signed all of her letters like that. But either way, he knew that she was special. She was the only girl who had a mahogany wand with unicorn hair; that certain type of wand was so rare it was almost as expensive as a phoenix as a pet. She was the only girl who had a barn owl; most witches and wizards avoided that owl because it wasn't as durable or good for long-distance message delivery. But Hugo adored Jesper. Her ivory face was almost as beautiful as the owl's beautiful owner under her tortoiseshell spectacles. One thing he loved most about Taron, though, was her unpredictability and her quirkiness. She wore something new every day, but Hugo's favorite was the way she constantly mismatched her Converse tennis shoes and, even when they were to be wearing the usual black shoes for special occasions, how she would would wear the brightest socks to show them off.

She was wonderful, and Hugo hoped she thought the same about him.

"Hugo! We're home!" The familiar sound of his parents returning from their work brought Hugo from his reminiscing about his crush.

He ran down the stairs, sliding down the banister, into his mum's arms and his dad's warm embrace. But his dad was laughing at his son's wonderful trick.

"You remind me so much of my how my older brothers were at your age. George was so witty." But his grin disappeared as he said, "and Fred was just the same."

"But you did that too, lovely!" Hermioned said, kissing Ron on the cheek.

Hugo was so proud of his parents. His dad was a top Auror at the ministry alongside Uncle Harry, and his mum was a member of the Magical Law Enforcement department of the Ministry. It was rather easy to believe how far his mum had gotten, though, seeing as how she was the most brilliant witch of her year, even if her parents were Muggles. But of course, it didn't matter how much or how little magic blood any witch or wizard had pulsing through their veins, because Hugo's own mum and Kingsley had been working on the whole "pureblood versus everyone else" for a while now.

"So, I have a question. About maybe going somewhere in a couple of weeks," Hugo mentioned sheepishly.

"Anything!" Hermione gave her son another embrace. She was too happy to be home after a long day. There had been too much paperwork on her desk and not enough time to even look at the beautiful moving pictures of her beloved family. "But let's go into the kitchen; mummy needs to sit down and start working on dinner."

As they walked into the elegant, new-looking kitchen, Hermione pulled out her vinewood wand and started to magic a pot to fill with water and start heating to boil as she sat down in a chair at the kitchen table, next to Ron, who opened his copy of the Daily Prophet and started reading.

Hugo sat across from them and fiddled with his thumbs. "So, I just got an owl from my friend Taron, and-"

"Huh, that's a brilliant name," Ron interrupted his son, putting the Prophet down noisily so he could hear his boy talk.

"-and she was wondering if I wanted to join her at Diagon Alley in a couple of weeks just to reunite, maybe talk about some school work, have some ice cream, shop around. You know, just have some fun."

Hermione was still sitting down, rubbing her head as she listened to her son. But now she stopped and looked at her son questioningly. "I don't know. A girl? What year is she?"

"She's a sixth year, mom." Hugo responded, annoyed.

"Oh! And are you interested in her?" Hermione grinned. Hugo sighed.

"Mom, I've been able to go to Hogsmead by myself for two years now. I should be able to go to Diagon Alley by using the Floo network..."

"I used that when I was a second year!" Ron exclaimed. "Come on, Hermione, let the kid go."

"Right, but what about his sister?" Hermione was asking about Rose because she was the perfect seventh year.

Ron sighed simultaneously with his son. "Hermione, you're pulling your old self again. Hugo's going to be a fifth year; and Rose is already a seventh year. If something goes wrong, she can get to Diagon Alley easy, not that anything would go wrong."

Hermione chuckled. "You're right, darling. I am being a bit stingy. All right, Hugo, you can go, but on one condition. You meet with this girl at the Leaky Cauldron and go through the wall to the Alley together. There are a bunch of dodgy witches and wizards out there. Trust me; I've been reading about them all day." Hermione let out another heavy sigh.

Hugo jumped out of his chair with excitement. He knew that Taron more than likely didn't like him, but the fact that he just got permission to spend some time with her was more exciting and more comforting than ever. He finally had a date. Well, a date that could be considered a date in his mind.

"Yes!" Was all he was currently thinking.

And, as Taron already sat reading his letter, she was thinking the same.


	5. Chapter 4: The Beginning of a Journey

In London, it was several days after the day that the first letter was sent from Taron's flat. Already, the Time Lady had rearranged some furniture (she got so bored) and moved around a few posters as she awaited Hugo's answer anxiously. It was pretty likely that he didn't like her, but the fact that Jesper hadn't arrived yet added to her worry and her concern.

She kept a poster of her father and his TARDIS in one corner of her room. He was an icon to her, and she wanted to venture around the entire Earth taking care of the human race if he ever decided to not… no, that was too difficult of an idea to bring into her mind. Taron loved her father and she hoped that, as a Time Lord, he would live out his "curse of the Time Lords," as he called it, and live for at least 1000 years. She didn't want him to go yet. Regenerate, maybe. But she was still her daddy's little girl. Nothing could break that bond.

As she sat letting her mind wander, she heard a scratching from somewhere in her sitting room. Getting up from her bed (where she was laying down) with a grunt, she realized that Fawkes, Hugo's beautiful owl, was sitting on her windowsill with a delicate letter stuck in his beak. As she let the great horned owl in, he soared around and landed on the edge of an antiquated chair, dropping the letter right into Taron's hands. She excitedly snatched the letter up into a proper position and ripped it open like a small child on Christmas morning. Fawkes loyally took his spot in Jesper's cage, eagerly waiting to get back to his master with a new letter. Taron took a few seconds before the words of Hugo's letter sank in.

Excitedly, she jumped out of her chair—nothing could ruin her day. Despite the idea of so many of her fellow Ravenclaws from Hogwarts, she did not just have a human crush on Hugo. It was something that only people of Gallifrey would understand; she felt the air fill with electricity every time the fiery ginger Gryffindor stepped in a room, she saw his past flash before her—she knew him inside and out, but he didn't know her hardly at all.

That was why Taron knew what she had to do—she had to show him _Graceling_, he had to know not _whom_ she was, but _what _she was. To everyone besides her dad and herself, Taron was either a crazy girl who fantasized, or a skilled witch with the highest marks in Hogwarts; but to her dad and her, two of the last Time Lords, she was a Time Lady, someone who was living in her second body and someone who had the whole of time and space at her fingertips.

The day seemed to get brighter as Taron again heard the familiar "vworp" that sounded just a bit different from _Graceling_'s engines—the Doctor had come home again.

Taron ran out of her building toward the police box in its same corner as usual, but stopped short of giving him a hug. There was another woman in the TARDIS with him—someone Taron had never met before.

And all Taron could hear was, "look at this face. Does it look _BOVVERED_ to you?"

"Hi, dad!" Taron faked the excitement in her voice.

"Taron!" The Doctor exclaimed, embracing her. Over her dad's shoulder, Taron saw the woman's eyes glow with curiosity and sarcasm—two traits that no one but a Time Lady would have noticed.

"Don't believe we've been introduced," the lady said, pursing her lips.

"Right! Taron, this is my new friend Donna," he looked to Donna, "Donna this is my—erm—daughter, Taron."

"How many more daughters could you _possibly_ have?"

"Well," he replied, tilting his head, "all honesty? Two." He held up two fingers. Donna's jaw dropped.

"So why did you want me to travel with you then, huh?" Donna challenged the Doctor, hands on her hips. By now, the Doctor had let go of Taron and sighed, turning between Taron and Donna.

"We went over this, Remember? The night with the Adipose? I want _a_ mate to travel with. My daughters are successful enough in life that I can leave them be now."

"Well, good, 'cos I'm not matin' with you, Space Man! I just want to see the universe."

"That's the plan," the Doctor responded, and winked.

Now, Taron felt she could ask her dad a question of Donna. "Had you met Donna before you came to visit last?"

"Oh, yeah!" The Doctor explained that now that Donna's mother and eccentric grandfather knew him, he had to let Donna stay with them for sometime. It was like a contract they had going.

Taron didn't seem to know what to think about this Donna figure. Her first impression certainly wasn't an excellent one, but as a Time Lady and a caring Ravenclaw, she felt inclined to invite her to tea.

"Why not," Donna responded, "since I've been tossed like a salad in this crazy machine for the past few hours." She elbowed the Doctor jokingly and began to walk behind Taron, but the Doctor convinced Donna to go ahead so he could have a short conversation with his daughter.

"No. Magic." He warned. "She reacted, well, reluctantly when I told her about our race, but wizardry—it's a whole different beast.

As they stepped out of the TARDIS, Taron chuckled at Donna, who was investigating the green 1960's Volkswagon beetle.

"I never knew they did green in the sixties!"

Taron looked over to her dad and mouthed _Graceling_'s name, tilting her head to the side questioningly. As he nodded, Taron continued with what she was going to say. "That's because it's not really a car. That's _my_ TARDIS. Her name is _Graceling_. Want a peek?"

Donna's facial expression reminded Taron of a toddler in a candy store. "There's more than _one_?"

Taron nodded simultaneously with her dad. "This one is different from mine though," the Doctor stole Taron's thunder, which she immediately stole back.

"Because its Chameleon Circuit works. Watch!" Taron disappeared into her TARDIS, and before Donna knew it, the beetle had accelerated through time to a fancy 2005 model, then back to a classic. After showing off, Taron popped her head out and waved Donna and the Doctor into _Graceling_.

"Wait, I'll make it easier." As she ran into the small-ish TARDIS, it suddenly morphed into a perfectly normal-looking telephone booth, aside from the fact that it was lime green and said "GRACELING" along the top, rather than "TELEPHONE".

Now, Taron stepped out of the doors, seemingly appearing out of nothing, for she was not visible through the glass. "That should do it. Ah, I love having a working Chameleon Circuit."

* * *

><p>After Donna got an inside look at <em>Graceling<em>'s intricate interior design and her beautiful console, the three joined back together inside Taron's flat, where they shared tea around her perfectly simple coffee table and chatted up a storm.

"So, Taron, where will you be attending in the fall for the start of term?"

Taron exchanged glances with her father. "Well," the Doctor began, tilting his head to the side again, "I've sent her to a _very_ selective school up to the North—we're not actually supposed to mention it."

"What, is it like a school for secret agents?" Donna asked, rolling her eyes.

Taron took charge here. "It's so small, that if I mentioned it to _anyone_, they wouldn't have the faintest idea."

"Oh," was the only response from Donna.

"Of course, it would be silly to say that if I told you, I would have to kill you," Taron chuckled, "because that is exceedingly violent and unnecessary." The entire group laughed.

As her father, the Doctor had to bring up his favorite subject: embarrassing Taron. "So, how's that date with that boy coming along, sweetheart," he asked.

Taron rolled her eyes, but played along. "Oh you know me, dad. I'm lucky when it comes to boys," she winked.

"Alright then…" Donna chuckled.

* * *

><p>The day grew into the night, and warm conversation filled the air. Taron attempted to cook a meal without magic, and it was actually quite enjoyable. Life, according to the Time Lady and her father, was good or maybe even perfect. It was just as Taron had hoped it would be going.<p> 


End file.
